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Gay and Lesbian Presence High Z2Z*£Z£££
at Reagan Counter Reception Gaypride Parade
Protesters Ronnie Mae Reagan, Bill Runyon, and Chris Chambers, front
dramatic flare to protest Reagan's
recent attempt to block AIDS research funding.
One band of lesbians got to the
Leamington Hotel early in the
day and scribbled the walk with
the message "Lesbians for Life,"
apparently attacking Reagan's
stand on nuclear armament.
Another band was gathered
behind a front row sign proclaiming simply "Dykes against
Reagan!".
An hour later, a group of gay
men in drag calling themselves
"The Ladies AIDS Society" showed up with pickets and a certain
Meanwhile, on the other end of
the block a group of gay men congregated face to face with a group
of Reagan supporters on the opposite side of the street. Reagan
supporters waved flags while particularly hunky models held commercially produced signs calling
for "Peace through Power." One
of the gays in drag and a Reagan
row. John Paul Farrell and Perry
mask carried a sign stating, "Warheads are for peace like I'm a real
girl." Another sign wished AIDS
on Reagan instead of the pox. A
third sign mused whether Hinckley wasn't right.
Although a group called some-
kind-of-coalition against Reagan
did some organizing for the event,
their activities were not all that
well publicized. The gathering of
nearly 6,000 sprang up mostly
spontaneously as a result of Reagan's reverse popularity.
A few members of the Minnesota Freedom Band. Clockwise frm the
horn: Brian Blackard, Danny Kukielka, Tom Valach, Pat Prochaska
and Kris Cottom.
The 1983 Gay and Lesbian
Pride Day Parade will be spearheaded this year by a link that has
long been needed but missing: a
full-fledged marching band. The
40 member Minnesota Freedom
Band formed this year will be on
hand to provide the musical
component.
Although the Gay Pride Committee traditionally concentrates
very little effort into smoothing
out the problems of the parade,
any pro-gay group in town is welcome to join in. Parades are usu
ally composed of multiple disparate elements each marching behind its own float and/or banners. City ordinances suggest the
units of a parade separate themselves by about 20 feet. The
parade gathers on the sidewalks
of East Lake Calhoun between
32nd and 34th Streets and proceeds down Hennepin Avenue to
Loring Park. Reservations not required. Professor Munchies is a
convenient watchers site. Sunday, June 26. Gather at noon.
Take off 1:00 p.m. sharp. Festival
in Loring Park starts at 2:00 p.m.
Lambasts Spear and Endean's Handling
of National Gay Rights Organizations
by Tim Campbell
National gay rights organizations have been under fire in the
gay press since last November,
when the Human Rights Campaign Fund grossed $600,000 in a
war chest to support friendly candidates for federal office while
only $150,000 of that amount
ever reached the candidates.
At the helm of this apparent
mismanagement is a suit-and-tie
activist of Minnesota origin
named Steve Endean, who was
groomed for the task and still
takes most of his cues from Minnesota Senator Allan Spear.
Later they formed a constellar
group called Saint Paul Citizens
for Human Rights, then the
Human Rights Coalition-and a
DFL Gay Rights Caucus. Most recently, Spear calls his supporters
here Lobby '83.
The Minnesota Committee for
Gay Rights emerged as the gay
rights group here with the largest
following and most establishment
oriented credentials from 1974 to
about 1977. They were known
for throwing lavish fundraisers at
places like the old Gordon Locks-
ley Mansion or the Calhoun
Beach Club. Year after year, they
brought in bigger bucks than any
other gay group in town, but consistently spent them all up on
overhead. Today, the Minnesota
Committee for Gay (and Lesbian)
Rights has unrecalled checks for
pizza allegedly served by co-chair
Joe Riehm to phone volunteers on
the Lobby '83 campaign.
Spear began to ignore the Minnesota Committee for Gay Rights
and its at least minimal constituency and election procedures in
1976 when the board defied him
to endorse a proposal to seek the
benefits of some part of affirmative action proposals for gays and
lesbians.
Spear sent Endean off to Washington shortly after that to join
the National Gay Task Force,
which he and Endean never quite
managed to control. Subsequently, Endean started the Gay Rights
National Lobby and its drag
sister, the Human Rights Campaign Fund.
From 1978 through 1983,
Spear and Endean quietly ap
pointed one Minnesota friend
after another to positions on the
boards of these three organizations. Most of the appointees
were wet-behind-the-ears youths
or virtaully closeted lesbians and
gays who held some sort of
straight title in Minnesota like
"Director of Affirmative Action,
Hennepin County" (Mary Hartmann Ritchie).
Spear had consistently exasperated local gay activists by ignoring them and their more grassroots type organizing and propping up neophytes to make it look
like his actions were democratic
when he was in fact pulling
dozens of strings behind the
scenes.
Spear found an easy and naive
following here, simply due to the
credibility of his office as a Senator. The Advocate now charges
that Spear (via Endean) has repeated all the same shenannigans
in Washington, DC in this week's
issue #370. Some of the most relevant passages follow:
"Senior staff positions at our
major, national gay institutions
'GRNL, NGTF, HRCF and the
"National Association of Gay and
lesbian Democratic Clubs) are
tot held by "leaders" from the
community but rather by individuals who were hired to run mini-
bureaucracies and who have assumed the mantle of spokespersons for the lesbian and gay
(see Advocate page 3)

Gay and Lesbian Presence High Z2Z*£Z£££
at Reagan Counter Reception Gaypride Parade
Protesters Ronnie Mae Reagan, Bill Runyon, and Chris Chambers, front
dramatic flare to protest Reagan's
recent attempt to block AIDS research funding.
One band of lesbians got to the
Leamington Hotel early in the
day and scribbled the walk with
the message "Lesbians for Life,"
apparently attacking Reagan's
stand on nuclear armament.
Another band was gathered
behind a front row sign proclaiming simply "Dykes against
Reagan!".
An hour later, a group of gay
men in drag calling themselves
"The Ladies AIDS Society" showed up with pickets and a certain
Meanwhile, on the other end of
the block a group of gay men congregated face to face with a group
of Reagan supporters on the opposite side of the street. Reagan
supporters waved flags while particularly hunky models held commercially produced signs calling
for "Peace through Power." One
of the gays in drag and a Reagan
row. John Paul Farrell and Perry
mask carried a sign stating, "Warheads are for peace like I'm a real
girl." Another sign wished AIDS
on Reagan instead of the pox. A
third sign mused whether Hinckley wasn't right.
Although a group called some-
kind-of-coalition against Reagan
did some organizing for the event,
their activities were not all that
well publicized. The gathering of
nearly 6,000 sprang up mostly
spontaneously as a result of Reagan's reverse popularity.
A few members of the Minnesota Freedom Band. Clockwise frm the
horn: Brian Blackard, Danny Kukielka, Tom Valach, Pat Prochaska
and Kris Cottom.
The 1983 Gay and Lesbian
Pride Day Parade will be spearheaded this year by a link that has
long been needed but missing: a
full-fledged marching band. The
40 member Minnesota Freedom
Band formed this year will be on
hand to provide the musical
component.
Although the Gay Pride Committee traditionally concentrates
very little effort into smoothing
out the problems of the parade,
any pro-gay group in town is welcome to join in. Parades are usu
ally composed of multiple disparate elements each marching behind its own float and/or banners. City ordinances suggest the
units of a parade separate themselves by about 20 feet. The
parade gathers on the sidewalks
of East Lake Calhoun between
32nd and 34th Streets and proceeds down Hennepin Avenue to
Loring Park. Reservations not required. Professor Munchies is a
convenient watchers site. Sunday, June 26. Gather at noon.
Take off 1:00 p.m. sharp. Festival
in Loring Park starts at 2:00 p.m.
Lambasts Spear and Endean's Handling
of National Gay Rights Organizations
by Tim Campbell
National gay rights organizations have been under fire in the
gay press since last November,
when the Human Rights Campaign Fund grossed $600,000 in a
war chest to support friendly candidates for federal office while
only $150,000 of that amount
ever reached the candidates.
At the helm of this apparent
mismanagement is a suit-and-tie
activist of Minnesota origin
named Steve Endean, who was
groomed for the task and still
takes most of his cues from Minnesota Senator Allan Spear.
Later they formed a constellar
group called Saint Paul Citizens
for Human Rights, then the
Human Rights Coalition-and a
DFL Gay Rights Caucus. Most recently, Spear calls his supporters
here Lobby '83.
The Minnesota Committee for
Gay Rights emerged as the gay
rights group here with the largest
following and most establishment
oriented credentials from 1974 to
about 1977. They were known
for throwing lavish fundraisers at
places like the old Gordon Locks-
ley Mansion or the Calhoun
Beach Club. Year after year, they
brought in bigger bucks than any
other gay group in town, but consistently spent them all up on
overhead. Today, the Minnesota
Committee for Gay (and Lesbian)
Rights has unrecalled checks for
pizza allegedly served by co-chair
Joe Riehm to phone volunteers on
the Lobby '83 campaign.
Spear began to ignore the Minnesota Committee for Gay Rights
and its at least minimal constituency and election procedures in
1976 when the board defied him
to endorse a proposal to seek the
benefits of some part of affirmative action proposals for gays and
lesbians.
Spear sent Endean off to Washington shortly after that to join
the National Gay Task Force,
which he and Endean never quite
managed to control. Subsequently, Endean started the Gay Rights
National Lobby and its drag
sister, the Human Rights Campaign Fund.
From 1978 through 1983,
Spear and Endean quietly ap
pointed one Minnesota friend
after another to positions on the
boards of these three organizations. Most of the appointees
were wet-behind-the-ears youths
or virtaully closeted lesbians and
gays who held some sort of
straight title in Minnesota like
"Director of Affirmative Action,
Hennepin County" (Mary Hartmann Ritchie).
Spear had consistently exasperated local gay activists by ignoring them and their more grassroots type organizing and propping up neophytes to make it look
like his actions were democratic
when he was in fact pulling
dozens of strings behind the
scenes.
Spear found an easy and naive
following here, simply due to the
credibility of his office as a Senator. The Advocate now charges
that Spear (via Endean) has repeated all the same shenannigans
in Washington, DC in this week's
issue #370. Some of the most relevant passages follow:
"Senior staff positions at our
major, national gay institutions
'GRNL, NGTF, HRCF and the
"National Association of Gay and
lesbian Democratic Clubs) are
tot held by "leaders" from the
community but rather by individuals who were hired to run mini-
bureaucracies and who have assumed the mantle of spokespersons for the lesbian and gay
(see Advocate page 3)